Capacitative or edge to edge glass touch screen monitor for Mac?
October 7, 2014 1:50 PM Subscribe
I'm looking for a standard size (22" or so) capacitive or edge-to-edge glass (LED) touch screen monitor for use with a Macbook. This is hard to find, apparently. More details on why inside.
So far I've found a BUNCH of perfectly suitable monitors, but none of them will work with Macs without expensive third-party drivers. (I'm looking at you, Dell). Can you recommend something to me that will work out of the box with a Macbook?
Ideally, it would have a standard monitor mount and all the proper ports. It's important that the "feel" of the touch screen is similar to that of an iPad or iPhone. Doesn't necessarily have to be capacitive, but should be glass and only require the touch and not a PRESS like some (perhaps older ones) do. It's, you know, for kids!
Thank you!
So far I've found a BUNCH of perfectly suitable monitors, but none of them will work with Macs without expensive third-party drivers. (I'm looking at you, Dell). Can you recommend something to me that will work out of the box with a Macbook?
Ideally, it would have a standard monitor mount and all the proper ports. It's important that the "feel" of the touch screen is similar to that of an iPad or iPhone. Doesn't necessarily have to be capacitive, but should be glass and only require the touch and not a PRESS like some (perhaps older ones) do. It's, you know, for kids!
Thank you!
Last I heard, OS X does not have touch screen capabilities built in. You may want to confirm that before you spend any more time on this.
posted by dfriedman at 3:43 PM on October 7, 2014
posted by dfriedman at 3:43 PM on October 7, 2014
Vendors, Microsoft included, have been de-emphasizing the desktop touch screen interface. It is inconvenient and and uncomfortable to keep extending your arm all of the way out to press or swipe on the screen. Working with a touch screen tablet or phone in your hand is one thing, but a 22 inch or larger monitor will likely be on a desk. Search the internet for Gorilla Arm Syndrome.
Yes, you probably can find a screen that will work. But, will you or the kids actually want to use it once the novelty wears off?
A tablet app as an extension of a desktop app seems to avoid many of the desktop touch screen issues. Perhaps there is a Mac app + iPad app combo that will work for you.
posted by Leenie at 4:45 PM on October 7, 2014
Yes, you probably can find a screen that will work. But, will you or the kids actually want to use it once the novelty wears off?
A tablet app as an extension of a desktop app seems to avoid many of the desktop touch screen issues. Perhaps there is a Mac app + iPad app combo that will work for you.
posted by Leenie at 4:45 PM on October 7, 2014
Response by poster: This is for experimental purposes. We run one-time touch screen based experiments in my research lab, so I don't think "Gorilla Arm Syndrome" will be an issue. Let's stick to answering the question, please.
posted by ancient star at 5:52 PM on October 7, 2014
posted by ancient star at 5:52 PM on October 7, 2014
I'm not sure how expensive the drivers are you're seeing to go with the cheap Dell monitor, so I can't say that this would be a good deal, but Planar has a 22" monitor with 10-point capacitive multi touch screen and claims MacOS compatibility.
posted by tomierna at 6:51 PM on October 7, 2014
posted by tomierna at 6:51 PM on October 7, 2014
Here's a little more information from the Apple support forums. In particular, here's someone asking about a slightly different Planar model. Note that they did ultimately have to buy the TouchBase drivers.
posted by dorque at 7:03 PM on October 7, 2014
posted by dorque at 7:03 PM on October 7, 2014
i looked into a few ones i knew of from doing POS work, and all of them didn't have drivers newer than like... osx 10.5, and didn't support capacitive or multitouch on osx.
i think you might be ahead buying a cheap monitor and a windows system for this unless your applications absolutely have to be on OSX.
You're basically asking a "i need a really really long van i can fit this long thing in" question, when the answer might just be to get a normal sized van, and assemble what was too long in a different way.
Some things are just really expensive or finnicky to do with a mac, to the point that it's cheaper in time/money/supporting hardware/etc to just buy a very cheap, or a used/refurbished windows machine and do it the "standard "way. I guess $171 for those drivers isn't awful, but it's borderline if your software is already portable and platform independent, or reasonably could be.
posted by emptythought at 9:38 PM on October 7, 2014 [2 favorites]
i think you might be ahead buying a cheap monitor and a windows system for this unless your applications absolutely have to be on OSX.
You're basically asking a "i need a really really long van i can fit this long thing in" question, when the answer might just be to get a normal sized van, and assemble what was too long in a different way.
Some things are just really expensive or finnicky to do with a mac, to the point that it's cheaper in time/money/supporting hardware/etc to just buy a very cheap, or a used/refurbished windows machine and do it the "standard "way. I guess $171 for those drivers isn't awful, but it's borderline if your software is already portable and platform independent, or reasonably could be.
posted by emptythought at 9:38 PM on October 7, 2014 [2 favorites]
Again, $171 for a driver is more than the ~90 it'll cost you to buy an OEM copy of Windows 8.1 that you can then install on your Mac.
posted by Oktober at 9:59 AM on October 8, 2014
posted by Oktober at 9:59 AM on October 8, 2014
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Because that would be the easiest way to do it, by far.
Until Apple puts touchscreen support into OSX your options will be limited there.
posted by Oktober at 2:39 PM on October 7, 2014 [1 favorite]